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Sadie Harrison: Allah Hu

Allah hu is the central movement of a work entitled Dast be Dast (Hand to hand in friendship) which was commissioned by the American ensemble Cuatro Puntos for their violist Kevin Bishop, and for Samim Zafar, a student rubab player at the Afghanistan National Institute of Music in Kabul.

Dast be Dast celebrates the diversity of Afghan and Western music-making, with both instruments exploring improvisation alongside notation, controlled imitation with spontaneous elaboration, and Western tonality within Afghan scales. The complete work was premiered by the dedicatees, Kevin and Samim on 23 June 2014 (joined by tabla player Madhurjya Barthakur) at the French Cultural Centre in Kabul.

Allah hu is a meditative movement for solo viola, based on a specific interpretation of the traditional melody sung as a lullaby by Veronica Doubleday in 2004.

The work was recorded by Kevin Bishop for Toccata Classics (TOCC0342) on the album The Rosegarden of Light. (This recording was made with A tuned to 432 hertz in lieu of the Western standard of 440-442 hertz.) Allah hu is dedicated to Kevin.